Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole

This delicious recipe came about because I really wanted wings one night, and rather than spend the money to eat out, I wanted a more affordable alternative I could eat at home. This casserole dish is the perfect combo of spicy and satisfying! The bacon bits really make this dish--so don't skimp on them!

Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole:

Ingredients:

- cooking spray
- 6 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 8 potatoes cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 1 cup crumbled cooked bacon
- 1 cup diced green onions

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat hot pepper sauce, olive oil, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, and salt in a large skillet over low heat, stirring until thoroughly combined. Turn off heat. Toss potatoes in batches with the hot pepper sauce mixture to coat and use a slotted spoon to transfer potatoes to the prepared baking dish. Leave remaining sauce in skillet. Mix chicken into remaining sauce and allow to marinate while potatoes roast.
3. Bake potatoes until tender inside and crisp and brown outside, 45 to 50 minutes, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Reduce oven heat to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
5. Spread chicken cubes over roasted potatoes. Sprinkle Mexican cheese blend, cooked bacon, and green onions over chicken. Return to oven and bake until chicken is cooked through and the cheese topping is bubbling, about 15 minutes.
6. Bake in oven until chicken is cooked through and the cheese topping is bubbling, about 15 minutes.

This casserole freezes well, and tastes even better the next day for leftovers once the flavours have really come together! This dish does turn out to be fairly spicy, so if you don't like the heat--you'll want to pass on this one. I think this would be an excellent Super Bowl dish too if you've got a big crowd to feed!

Crock Pot Butter Chicken

Since I'm trying to cook with more spices which I talked about when I posted the Basil Curry Chicken recipe before, I decided to try making my own Butter Chicken--and even better, it's a crockpot recipe, so no need to heat up the whole house slaving over the stove top!

Crockpot Butter Chicken--Ready to Eat!

The recipe was super simple, and basically amounts to simply throwing everything in the crockpot and letting it cook! I served mine over some white rice with a piece of naan. It was delicious and made an even better lunch the next day!

Crockpot Butter Chicken

Ingredients

• 1.5 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size chunks
• 1/2 onion, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons curry paste
• 2 tablespoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use less if you are not a spicy person)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk, regular or lite
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup half and half or heavy cream

Instructions

1. In a large glass measuring cup or bowl mix together the coconut milk, greek yogurt and cream. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, ginger and all the spices. Mix well.

2. Sprinkle the onion over the bottom of the crockpot. Add the chicken and then pour the coconut milk mixture over the chicken so the chicken is completely covered. 

3. Add the butter and place the lid on the crockpot. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours. 

Once the curry is done cooking, serve it hot over rice and with some naan for scooping and dipping (my favourite part!) This meal was Toddler Approved which is always a nice bonus! For the boy-o I mixed some of the butter chicken up with some of the rice, and put into a tortilla shell with some cheese and gave it a quick grill to make it into a burrito of sorts. He gobbled it right up and I was super happy to have leftovers for lunch the next day because it was delicious!

Pasta Bake with Turkey Sausage, Spinach and Tomatoes

Following along the casserole trend, we tested out a delicious pasta bake for supper the other night. It combines penne noodles with some sausage, and host of veggies including spinach, coloured peppers, and cherry tomatoes. It's a really nice blend of healthier creaminess and traditional marinara pasta sauce.

We made a huge casserole dish of it, so we had several leftovers some of which we froze--and I'm happy to say that that it freezes really well too! This recipe was also Toddler Approved which is always a bonus!

Pasta Bake with Sausage, Spinach & Tomatoes

Ingredients

-10 ounces whole wheat penne pasta

-1 lb spicy Italian chicken or turkey sausage

-1 5-6 oz. bag baby spinach

-2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 small red pepper cut into strips

- 1/2 small orange pepper cut into strips

- 1/2 small yellow pepper cut into strips

-1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes

-1 cup pasta sauce

-3/4 cup plain greek yogurt

-1/4 cup milk

-1 and 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese or mixed blend
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (less or none if you don't like spicy)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.
2. Cook sausage in 1 tbsp butter over medium heat for 12-14 minutes, or until browned. When almost done, add in garlic and cook for 30 seconds more. Turn off heat and remove sausage with tongs, placing on cutting board. Slice into bite-sized pieces. Pour remaining butter and garlic into a very large bowl.
3. Place the spinach in the bottom of your pasta strainer. When pasta is done, pour pasta and pasta water over the spinach into the strainer, allowing the spinach to wilt slightly.
4. Chop cherry tomatoes into halves, for a total of 1 cup.
5. Pour pasta, sausage, spinach, peppers, and tomatoes into bowl with garlic.
6. Add tomato sauce, yogurt, milk, 1 cup of the cheese, and spices to bowl. Mix very well. Pour into casserole dish. Top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Cover dish with foil.
7. Cook for 20 minutes covered. Remove foil, cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Dig in!

Basil Chicken Curry with Coconut Lime Rice

School is over now (for good!)... so I'll be better at updating again. Scouts honour.

I just made this amazing curry for lunch and wanted to share the recipe because it was soooo delicious! It was pretty easy to make and not very time consuming either--both a major plus in my books! I'm also trying to get better at cooking with spices and herbs and this was an excellent introduction to both those things.

This curry is probably about a medium spice level, and all the veggies in it (like corn!) add to a wonderful summer feeling, making this a perfect meal for a day like today when the weather is a little grey and dull but still warm outside.

So here it is: enjoy!

Ingredients:

Coconut Lime Rice

• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 cup jasmine or basmati rice (I used brown rice)
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• 1 lime, juiced + zest

Curry

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken, diced (or 2-3 cups cooked chickpeas)*
• 2 bell peppers, chopped (I used one green, and one red)
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 cup canned/frozen corn
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoon thai red curry paste (I used 3)
• 1 tablespoon spicy curry powder
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions:

Rice

1. Add the coconut milk to a medium size pot. Bring to a low boil and then add the rice. 

2. Stir to combine and then place the lid on the pot and turn the heat down to low. Allow the rice to cook ten minutes on low and then turn the heat off completely and let the rice sit on the stove, covered for another 20 minutes. 

3. After 20 minutes remove the lid and add the lime juice + zest and basil. Fluff the rice with a fork. 

Curry

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once hot, add the diced chicken and saute the chicken until browned all over and cooked through, about 5-10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and place on a plate.

2. Add another tablespoon olive oil to the skillet. Add the peppers and corn, saute 3-4 minutes and then toss in the zucchini, ginger and garlic. Saute the veggies another 5 minutes or until they just begin to soften. Add the chicken back to the skillet and toss everything together.

3. To the skillet add the curry powder and curry paste and give everything another good toss. Cook 1 minute and then add the coconut milk. Stir to combine, bring the mixture to a boil, cook 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. 

4. Remove from the heat and stir in the basil and cilantro.

Once the rice and curry mixture are done, you can serve the curry over the rice and if you wish add some naan on the side as well. 

Happy Cooking!

Meatloaf Lasagna Roll Ups: A New Take on Leftovers

Yes, you read that correctly.... Meatloaf Lasagna Roll Ups. I was really hungry the other night for something tasty, and all I really had kicking around for dinner was random bits of leftovers. So I decided to get creative, and the result was a delicious and easy dinner!

I had some lasagna noodles, but not enough to make a whole lasagna, and not enough of anything else to make a whole one either for that matter! So I decided to try making some "Lasagna Rolls Ups." I had some leftover pasta sauce in the fridge and a little bit of cottage cheese, so I was set for that much. But then I was stumped about what meat to put in since I didn't have any ground meat at home. Then I remembered I had some of my Turkey Zucchini Meatloaf left, and decided to get creative!

Essentially I took two slices of meatloaf and crumbled them up, and then mixed it in with the pasta sauce to form a meat sauce for the lasagna roll ups. Since the meatloaf already had zucchini and onions as well as some seasonings, I didn't need to add anything else to the sauce.

I boiled the lasagna noodles, spread some cottage cheese, meat sauce, and a little grated cheese on each one, rolled them up and placed them in a baking dish, topped them with more sauce and cheese and then baked them till bubbly! They were super flavourful and were a great way to use up some of the smaller bits of stuff I had kicking around the house. Here's an "official" recipe guideline. I only had enough bits of stuff to make 6 rolls up, and I've guessed at how much cottage cheese and pasta sauce I had left. I've tried to over estimate so you're likely to have extra rather than run out. You can also easily increase the amount of all items to make a larger batch!

Meatloaf Lasagna Roll Ups:

Ingredients:

- 6 cooked lasagna noodles
- 2 slices of meatloaf
- 1 1/2 cups of sauce
- 3/4 cup cottage cheese
- grated cheese

Directions:

1. Pre-heat over to 400 degrees.
2. Break meatloaf up into small pieces and combine with pasta sauce. Heat mixture in small saucepan.
3. Spread pre-cooked lasagna noodles out on flat surface. Spread a spoonful of cottage cheese across each noodle, followed by a spoonful of sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese. Don't add to much stuff or it will all fall out when you try to roll them!

 4. Gently roll up each noodle and place in baking dish with the seam facing down.

 

5. Add more sauce to the top of the noodles and sprinkle with more cheese.

 



6. Cover baking dish with tin-foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is browned and bubbly. Enjoy!

Your Turn!

How do you eat your leftover meatloaf?

Hearty Lasagna

One of my favourite foods to make from scratch is lasagna! It takes a bit of time, but then I can add in meat AND veggies rather than settle for store bought which normally includes one or the other. I haven't quite figured out why they think the two can't live harmoniously together.... but anyway. Lasagna is also a great food to make for lots of leftovers! We usually make our lasagna in a 9X13 pan, and it will make 6-8 portions, depending on how hungry we are the night it was made.

I always start by making my own meat and veggie tomato sauce, which is really the heart of the lasagna. The longer you can let it simmer the better! Also, it freezes really, really well.

One of the best ways to freeze lasagna that I've discovered is to let it cool completely and then wrap each piece individually in saran wrap. It keeps out any freezer burn better than Tupperware, and takes up way less space in your freezer too!

Hearty Lasagna

Ingredients:

- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 cans preferred spaghetti sauce
- 1 lb ground meat, we use turkey
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1/2 zucchini, diced
- handful carrot matchsticks
- 3 or 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 box of no cook lasagna noodles
- 1 500g container of cottage cheese
- 1 bag shredded mozzarella (or any other shredded cheese mix)

Directions:

- Brown ground meat in a skillet and drain off excess fat
- Add diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce and browned ground meat to large saucepan. Mix together well. Add in veggies and crushed garlic cloves.
- Let sauce mixture simmer for at least an hour, preferably more.

To Assemble lasagna:
- place thin layer of sauce on bottom of 9X13 pan, add three lasagna noodles on top,

 

- add layer of sauce, spread half of cottage cheese container, and place more noodles,

 

- cover noodles with more sauce, spread the second half of the cottage cheese, add more noodles,
- add final layer of sauce to generously cover noodles and sprinkle grated cheese over the top liberally.

-Cover lasagna with tin-foil and bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove tinfoil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

 

Although this lasagna already has veggies in it, it serves well with a side caesar salad to amp up the veggie quota of your meal, and to make it more likely that you'll get 8 servings out of it instead of just six.

Enjoy!!